Detroit delays free legal aid program for renters facing eviction

Detroit's newly formed right to counsel program is going to be delayed in ensuring low-income renters have free legal aid when facing eviction because the city is expected to miss its Saturday launch.

The Detroit City Council unanimously approved the ordinance in May guaranteeing an office for eviction defense to be established by Oct. 1. The ordinance provided $6 million in federal COVID relief funds and another $4 million from a philanthropic partner in its first year to fund court representation for those most in need. Advocates say more than $17 million is needed in the first year of the initiative.

The Detroit Right to Counsel Coalition issued a statement saying it does not understand the reason for the delay in releasing funding and implementing the ordinance.

"The Detroit Right to Counsel Ordinance mandates the creation of an Office of Eviction Defense, conducting community outreach, and providing full legal representation for residents facing eviction," said attorney Tonya Myers Phillips, Detroit Right to Counsel Coalition project leader. "The City of Detroit has $787,680,314 million in unspent American Rescue Plan Act Funds and is sitting on a $198 million budget surplus. There is no excuse for not funding the Detroit Right to Counsel Ordinance and allowing Detroiters to needlessly slip into homelessness."

The city's top attorney, Conrad Mallett Jr., met with the coalition leaders this week to inform them the city would not be starting on time. He told The Detroit News it's due to a management and staffing issue, "nothing to do with dedication to the cause."

"We've had staff personnel who were working on it leave the city," Mallett said. "It was a management issue on my part. We are hopeful that that the RFP (request for proposal) will be available this week and as we have said before, we want to assure the public who needs these services that the program as it currently exists with CERA (COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program) federal dollars is still ongoing. We are positive there will not be a gap in an opportunity for service."

There's no question, Mallett said, that the Right To Counsel initiative will launch before the end of the year, when CERA funds reach their deadline.

"Already people are lining themselves up to complain about the allocation. Not believing that $2 million a year for three years is going to be enough but that was the arrangement that was made with City Council by the administration and that's what we're working with," Mallett said.

Since August 2020, more than 22,700 new eviction cases have been filed in 36th District Court — including 17,900 cases filed in 2020 alone. This averages to about 1,500 new cases filed monthly, according to a February report by the University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions project.

The city estimates that 82% of Detroit's residents are low-income and 52% are renters.

The 36th District Court sees an average of 30,000 eviction cases annually and a UM Poverty Solutions study found that tenants are nearly 90% more successful in winning their cases when they have an attorney provided to them.

The coalition said it is demanding the administration to fully fund and implement the ordinance expeditiously.

"The eviction crisis over the past decade has caused irreparable harm to Detroiters, including, but not limited to, homelessness, joblessness, mental trauma and destabilization of our neighborhoods," Myers said. “The Detroit City Council unanimously passed the Detroit Right to Counsel Ordinance, a course reversing decades of institutional bias against poor renters and homeowners in Detroit."

Meanwhile, the Gilbert Family Foundation has commited $13 million over the next three years to its Detroit Eviction Defense fund, building on the $6 million committed by the city. The funds are expected to assist about 6,000 tenants a year supporting families with a child in the home who make 50% of the area median income or less. In Detroit, those income levels for a family of two is $35,800, $40,300 for a family of three and $44,750 for a family of four.

srahal@detroitnews.com Twitter: @SarahRahal_